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About
In 2002, after long collaboration in the most prestigious baroque ensembles in France and Europe, several musicians decided to form the Ensemble Artaserse. Those friends were Christine Plubeau (viola da gamba), Claire Antonini (theorbe), Yoko Nakamura (harpsichord and organ) and, of course, Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor). They gave in october 2002 a first and highly-acclaimed concert in the Theatre du Palais-Royal in Paris, with the Musiche a voce sola by the Italian composer Benedetto Ferrari. This music was immediately recorded and released by the French label Ambroisie, receiving then very prestigious awards (Diapason-decouverte by the magazine Diapason, 10 de Classica-Repertoire, Timbre de diamant by the magazine Opera International etc.).
With this ability to adapt to numerous repertoires including music by Antonio Vivaldi, George Friedric Handel, Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli, the ensemble performed progressively in the most famous venues and festivals in France, such as the Festivals of Ambronay, Sablé, Pontoise, Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache, Festival de Musique Ancienne de Lyon, Salle Gaveau, the Auditorium du Louvre and the Théatre du Chatelet in Paris, the Château de Versailles, the Bordeaux Opera, the Nancy Opera etc.
Abroad, Ensemble Artaserse have been invited to perform in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, in the Escurial in Madrid, the Palau de la Musica in Valencia or the Festival of Santiago de Compostelles (Spain), the Festival of the Azores (Portugal), the Prague Festival of ancien music, the South Bank Center and the Barbican Center in London, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Berliner Philharmonie, Prinzregententheater in Munich, and the Philharmonie Hall in Krakow (Poland)etc.
The ensemble’s discography includes Benedetto Ferrari’s Musiche a voce sola (Ambroisie-Naïve) and two very acclaimed albums for Virgin Classics: Virtuoso cantatas by Vivaldi and “Beata Vergine” with 17th century Italian music devoted to the Virgin Mary (Timbre de Platine of Opera International etc).
In 2010/2011, Ensemble Artaserse made their debuts at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees with Philippe Jaroussky and Andreas Scholl. They have performed also in Barbican of London and in Bozar in Brussels. A very important tour took place in June 2010 (Stockholm in Sweden, the Festivals of Haut-Jura, Saint-Michel, Angers, Froville and Nantes). In July 2011, the ensemble had a tour in Germany with Philippe Jaroussky for the first time.
In autumn 2014, Philippe Jaroussky was on tour with ensemble Artaserse because of the release of his new CD devoted to Vivaldi Motets. For the first time, Philippe Jaroussky and Artaserse were in South America (Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, and Mexico). They also performed in Europe in Paris, Lyon, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, London, and Berlin.
Highlights of the last seasons were the tour "Idolo Mio" in June 2017, in which the ensemble, together with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and the mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, devoted themselves to secular vocal music of Monteverdi, as well as the tour with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and a Handel program.
In the season 2019/2020, Ensemble Artaserse will play again with Philippe Jaroussky in Germany: The musicians will play oratorios by Scarlatti, Hasse and Caldara in April 2020 in Heidelberg and arias and sinfonias by Antonio Vivaldi and Georg Friedrich Händel in May 2020 in Munich and Dresden.